Upslope Capital Management Exited West Pharmaceutical (WST) for Better Opportunities

Upslope Capital Management, an investment management company, released its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Upslope aims to provide attractive, equity-like returns while reducing market risk and keeping low correlation with traditional equity strategies. The fourth quarter marked a strong end to an exceptional year for the firm. The Fund delivered strong results with reduced downside risk. The Fund returned +2.0% (net) in Q4 compared to +1.6% for both the S&P Midcap 400 ETF (MDY) and HFRX Equity Hedge Index. For the year 2025, the Fund returned +14.8% compared to +7.2% and +10.1% returns for the indexes, respectively.  The firm observed that markets are increasingly dynamic, and most investment decisions are driven by aggressive, thematic, and very short-term-focused strategies. As a closing note, the letter states that identifying investment opportunities is straightforward, but returns remain uncertain given the current economic landscape.  In addition, you can check the Fund’s top five holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Upslope Capital Management highlighted stocks such as West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST). West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products. The one-month return for West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) was -5.49%, and its shares lost 22.76% over the last 52 weeks. On January 16, 2026, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) stock closed at $259.79 per share, with a market capitalization of $18.69 billion.

Upslope Capital Management stated the following regarding West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

"The Fund also exited West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) (WST, producer of packaging/components for injectable drug delivery devices). This was due to better perceived risk/reward for existing and new components of the Fund’s healthcare “basket” (which includes: STERIS, Bio-Rad, and recently added Henry Schein)."

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 49 hedge fund portfolios held West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) at the end of the third quarter, which was 46 in the previous quarter. In Q3 2025, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) reported revenues of $805 million, marking an increase of 5% on an organic basis. While we acknowledge the potential of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) and shared the list of best dividend aristocrat stocks to invest in. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.